


Figures A and B

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Koko wa Greenwood | Here is Greenwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-12-22
Updated: 2004-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-25 03:45:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1629809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Story by hua</p>
            </blockquote>





	Figures A and B

**Author's Note:**

> Written for sexybee

 

 

The door to the apartment is a division in his day. Mitsuru stops in the entrance, slides off his shoes and coat.

Shinobu is home. The mug that Mitsuru left on the counter this morning is gone and on Fridays once Shinobu's home he seldom leaves again until the evening. Mitsuru doesn't bother calling out; he supposes Shinobu is in his room studying. Shinobu is working hard, even if he shows it differently than other people.

Instead he snaps the carrot stick he's been dangling from his mouth between his teeth and eats both halves. He sets his bag on the counter, pulling out food, then leaves it half unpacked to go open the blinds. A division is a division, but there is a limit. Mitsuru likes connection too. The windows are large picture windows. It's winter and the sunlight is faint but very clear and fills the room effortlessly.

Shinobu is at the counter when he turns around, as though he came in with the light. The rest of the food is spread out on the counter in front of him, waiting for Mitsuru to divide it. He does, and Shinobu accepts his portion.

"Oranges are in season?" he asks, eating the fruit first.

Of course they aren't. Mitsuru takes it for another question and rattles off the reply easily. Orange and vegetables from Asa; the cake from Yuiko, soba from granny Waizumita. He holds up a thermos. "Tea from Yuiko, too." Standing and leaning dangerously, he manages to snag two cups, setting one in front of Shinobu. There are thin streamers of heat coming from the tea as he pours. It's not his favorite, but it's a gift and it's pleasant to drink hot on days like this. There aren't many left now, anyhow; spring should be coming soon.

"Isn't it dishonest, letting all those people keep you from starving?" Shinobu eats his portion calmly. Evidently he is not disturbed overmuch by dishonesty.

They've also had this conversation often, so Mitsuru is not startled by his bluntness. Not that he would have been in any case. This time he answers, "Isn't it better this way, so they each only have to bear a little?" This is as close as he has come, maybe, to admitting why; but then he isn't really sure why himself.

"I doubt they'd mind." Shinobu says eventually, and Mitsuru only looks up, chopstick resting on his lower lip. He's half forgotten his side of the conversation.

Mouth curved around the lip of his cup, Shinobu says nothing.

*

That's how Shinobu is: He likes to tease, although he probably wouldn't call it that, and Mitsuru has to pause over the word himself. He provokes people, and he gets away with it because of his style. Mitsuru has his own way of getting away with things - but more than anything, these days, he's busy. Shinobu has more or less won the rent argument, and between school and family and his jobs and the apartment he doesn't have much in the way of money or time. He'd like to ask Shinobu what the rent really is, anyway, only he can tell Shinobu is waiting for the question. Lacking the time to wrestle things out of the other man, he settles for annoying Shinobu with silence instead. That's what he thinks most of the time anyhow. It's too easy to get trapped in a logic loop - would Shinobu know Mitsuru wouldn't ask and therefore have no plan?

The next time they eat together he asks about Shinobu's classes one by one, just to test Shinobu's forbearance. When Shinobu asks about the food, this time he tries to appeal to Shinobu's guilt by saying that he has no money for food, because Shinobu cruelly makes him live in such a place. Failure.

*

Shinobu never seems to lack for anything at all. Then, perhaps scheming isn't just a hobby, after all. Mitsuru thinks about this on the way home a week or so later, separating himself gradually from Shinobu's classmates and shaking the petals out of his hair. He isn't sure exactly what they've accomplished, but he had fun and undoubtably the result was according to Shinobu's plan; in this instance he doesn't regret it.

A familiar voice calls to him from across the street. He'd forgotten this was that part of town. "Raimu!" he shouts happily, crossing between cars to talk to her. He stays there as the shadows lengthen, helping her sweep and listening to the familiar stories about her brother who is always in trouble. It's late afternoon when he heads home, swinging the small bag of pastry from his hand, listening to the sound of his shoes on the pavement and anticipating the door to his home.

Dinner tonight is courtesy of Raimu and Harue, Shinobu's classmate, who earlier today on their second meeting had smiled sweetly and given him a boxed lunch. How charming, he'd thought, and remembering lunches received in junior high and high school, some things have yet to change.

Shinobu refuses to enlighten him about the plan over dinner.

*

Mitsuru gets a better job, or one that pays better anyway, and so he works less.

*

The snow is melting on the streets. It's been almost a year, and now he finds himself able to go by the old dorm sometimes, where Suka does his best to tease him about being a guy who can't let go. He's not sure whether that one actually likes to tease or merely feels obligated, but he has a point, so Mitsuru bears it. Shun always asks whether he's had a fight with Shinobu, and Mitsuru tugs his hair. Sometimes Shun acts offended, sometimes he grins. Mitsuru really ought to stop going back, but he's always been bad at that.

As long as he's there, in return for Suka's teasing, he instigates the tenants. Having been in charge of trying to maintain order himself, he knows best how to cause a lot of trouble with little effort. Life isn't meant to be easy, after all.

*

Shinobu looks down at the simple dinner strangely, and Mitsuru apologises.

"It's not much, sorry. The rolls are from Asa."

"And this?"

"Ah, that's McDonalds," Mitsuru says.

*

Remembering Shinobu's face that time, he stops at the store on the corner, thinking how amused Shinobu will be when he gets his present. The door to the shop is a division as well; that's how doors are. Inside it's a cool that's a little more dry than outside and the ground is scuffed under his feet; he catches glances of the broken pattern there now and then, thinking to himself how strange.

He keeps it simple, and it takes little enough effort. He's thinking of something else entirely when he turns a corner and sees Shinobu. It's something of a shock. Mitsuru glances to the side, overacting surprise as he verifies - he is still where he was before.

"I've been here all this time," Shinobu answers. His face is as even as Mitsuru has ever seen it, but nevertheless Mitsuru narrows his eyes.

"Metaphorically," Shinobu says, not at all reproachfully.

"Hmm." They continue down the aisle together. It's soups and things; Mitsuru reaches for his favorite mix, but Shinobu stops him and puts a different kind in.

"Do your own shopping." Mitsuru says, more amused than annoyed. After all....

Shinobu's hand is still on the edge of the basket, pulling heavy on his arm, and he glances over. Shinobu meets his gaze and looks away, which he often does when he is being provoking or there is something he doesn't want Mitsuru to know, but then also back, and that's surprising. Mitsuru lifts his chin inquiringly, and Shinobu, as though Mitsuru is offering, leans in. That's how they kiss for the first time, in the corner store with Mitsuru's basket slung over one arm, heavier and heavier in the crook of his elbow. Other than that...Shinobu is just as warm as any other person. His mouth is soft over Mitsuru's.

"This is..." Mitsuru says when they are no longer kissing. He has the impulse to raise his hand to his mouth like a shocked girl. He's distracted from imagining Shinobu's resulting expression by Shinobu's voice.

"I'm not giving you anything." Shinobu sounds cool. But he is wearing one of his small smiles as he drapes an arm over Mitsuru's shoulder. Possibly he's had a lot of practice; in any case, like almost everything, he does it well. Mitsuru feels enfolded. He passes the basket to Shinobu so that it is no longer between them, and Shinobu takes it without comment.

"Metaphorically?" Mitsuru asks, though he thinks he understands. Shinobu's arm tightens around his shoulders. Mitsuru looks down the aisle. It doesn't suddenly extend forever; after all, they are still inside the door of the store and space is finite. Still he feels no particular urge to continue shopping.

"Is that so?" he asks as though he has heard Shinobu's answer. His smile slowly widening, he nudges his weight back against the body next to his.

 


End file.
